Adapting standard cargo containers for air transport is a vital requirement of military and commercial air cargo communities. Lessons learned from the U.S. Armed Forces' recent deployments and engagements have proved the utility of quadcon and tricon containers and highlighted a need for improved air transportability of these products. Quadcon containers are designed so that when four quadcon units are secured together, the combined package has the same footprint as an ISO standard 20-foot intermodal container. Similarly, tricon containers are designed so that when three tricon units are secured together, the combined package has the same footprint as an ISO standard 20-foot intermodal container. An advantage of quadcon and tricon containers is that they can be are separated into individual units, thereby permitting each quadcon or tricon unit to be handled by standard material handling equipment. This greatly simplifies ground transport handling and speeds the process of airfield clearance. Currently in order to move quadcon or tricon units by air, each container must be disconnected from its 3 or 4 container train, placed on a standard 463 L pallet, with appropriate dunnage, and chained to the pallet. This process increases deployment times at the mode transition points (e.g., from ground to air transport and from air to ground transport) and places a demand for large quantities of pallets, dunnage, and chains at the aerial port of embarkation. The present invention markedly improves the capability to rapidly adapt standard cargo containers to directly interface with cargo loading systems of cargo aircraft by eliminating the need to palletize the containers using pallet systems, dunnage, and chains, thus eliminating a logistics nightmare and bottleneck for transportation mode change points.